Marine CCTV lets the bridge keep an eye on the engine room, decks and gangway, and leaves a video record when an incident or dispute occurs. Fit cameras made for buildings ashore, though, and vibration, salt and humidity soon shift the view or corrode the hardware — and a recorder that is set up wrongly may not keep the footage you need. Here is a step-by-step guide to installing CCTV on ships: camera placement, protection against the marine environment, recorders and storage, network and security, and routine checks.
1. Camera placement: start with what you need to see
- Engine room and pump room: places the watch needs to check often, such as around the main engine, generators and boilers. Make them viewable from the bridge or engine control room, and keep cameras out of direct heat, steam and oil mist.
- Deck and mooring areas: forward and aft mooring stations, cargo work areas and blind spots along the ship's side, used to follow night work and spot unauthorised access.
- Gangway and corridors: the gangway, accommodation entrances and main corridors, which give an access record and evidence after an incident or dispute.
- Where not to film: leave crew private spaces such as cabins and washrooms out of view, and post notices in monitored areas.
- Check the view first: hold the camera in place temporarily and check the picture before fixing it. Lighting, structures and cranes easily create blind spots.
2. Coping with the sea: vibration, salt, humidity and night
- Waterproof, dustproof, corrosion-resistant: deck cameras take seawater and rain directly, so choose housings with a high ingress protection (IP) rating and corrosion-resistant materials. For the engine room, allow for humidity, heat and oil.
- Vibration and mounts: ship vibration gradually shifts the view, so fix cameras firmly with stainless steel brackets or angle adjusters and avoid structures that vibrate heavily.
- Night-time images: with infrared (IR) cameras, IR light can reflect off the housing glass and wash out the picture, so check that the design limits this glare. Aim cameras so deck floodlights do not shine straight into the lens.
- Cables and penetrations: seal deck penetrations and connectors with waterproof glands or tape, and clamp cables so vibration does not break them.
- Hazardous areas: before installing where there is an explosion risk, such as the cargo area of a tanker or gas carrier, check against class and company standards that the camera is an explosion-proof type suitable for that zone.
3. Recorders and storage: keep the footage you need
- Decide the retention period first: agree how many days of footage must be kept, then size the storage for the number of cameras, resolution, frame rate and codec. An efficient codec such as H.265 needs less storage for the same picture quality.
- Mixing old and new cameras: if analog cameras remain, a hybrid recorder that accepts several camera types allows step-by-step replacement.
- Time sync: if the recorder clock differs from ship's time, matching footage with other records after an incident becomes hard. Set the time at installation and check it at every inspection.
- Location and power: keep the recorder in a space only authorised people can enter, and connect it behind a UPS so a momentary blackout does not interrupt recording.
- Where to watch: put monitors on the bridge and in the engine control room, and if footage must be viewed outside on a bridge wing or deck, use a waterproof marine monitor.
4. Network and security: CCTV is onboard IT too
- Segmentation: separate IP cameras and the recorder from the business and crew welfare networks with a VLAN. Planning cable routes and VLANs as part of the ship network build avoids re-cabling later. Network equipment such as PoE switches, which power IP cameras over the network cable, is covered under vessel IT equipment.
- No direct internet exposure: do not connect the recorder straight to the internet; change default passwords and keep the firmware managed. If the shore needs remote viewing, allow it only through a path permitted by the ship firewall.
- Satellite data use: streaming live video over a satellite link can drive data use up sharply. Check from shore only when needed, with a low-resolution stream, or retrieve just the recorded period you need.
5. Operation and checks: make sure it is recording
- Check items: confirm that every channel is recording, the storage drive shows no errors, the clock is right, and lenses are free of salt and soot.
- Lens cleaning and re-aiming: deck cameras quickly gather a film of salt, so clean them regularly and correct any view that vibration has shifted.
- Preserving footage: after an incident or dispute, save the relevant footage separately before it is overwritten, and log who saved it and when.
- Handover: hand over recorder accounts, how to export footage and the check log at crew changes. For a wider list of onboard IT checks, see 7 preventive checks that reduce vessel IT failures.
Ocean Connect handles marine CCTV from camera selection to on-board cabling, recorder setup and periodic checks (marine CCTV cameras and recorder). If you are planning a new CCTV installation or a replacement, contact us via the online inquiry form or our emergency 24-hour helpdesk (+82-70-7588-0611~0612).